1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to locking devices. More particularly, the present invention pertains to rack separator locking devices. Even more particularly, the present invention concerns locking devices for railroad car rack separators.
2. Prior Art
The use of railroad cars to transport vehicles and vehicular parts, such as fenders, is well known. With respect to vehicle fenders, they are usually mounted on a plurality of adjacent racks. The racks which hold the fenders are, generally, loosely mounted in the railroad car. Because of the swaying encountered in the operation and running of a railroad car, the fenders disposed on adjacent racks crash together. This results in the fenders being damaged with the resulting economic loss. This is directly attributable to the momentum transferred to individual racks.
To alleviate this problem, the prior art has taught removable impact separators with adjustable locking devices which fix a distance between adjacent racks. However, presently known locking devices are expensive to manufacture. Generally, they are three piece assemblies which, upon impacting and rusting due to weathering, become frozen or non-functional and, thus, are not readily removed from their associated separators when unloading a railroad car.
The present invention, on the other hand, provides a universal rack separator locking device of reduced cost of manufacture and which is readily positioned on, as well as readily removed from its associated rack separator. The locking device hereof remains functional whether impacted or rusted.